How Chicago's longtime chefs keep the kitchens stoked

(Crain's) — When Charlie Trotter announced the closing of his eponymous restaurant, the circle of Chicago's long-standing chefs grew one smaller.

Mr. Trotter has said he is doffing his toque in August to travel and pursue a master's degree. The closing of his eponymous restaurant marks the end of a 25-year run of the dining room that helped put Chicago on the culinary map and a kitchen where many well-known chefs sharpened their knives. (Alinea's Grant Achatz had a short stint at Trotter's.)

Still, there are a seasoned few who remember when foie gras came out of a can. They stepped into the kitchen in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Chicago was dotted with French restaurants bearing the "le" moniker and the chefs remained long enough to see pork belly stage a comeback.

So what has changed and what keeps them sauteing away?

John Hogan, 55, remembers the days when there were only a handful of fine-dining restaurants in Chicago. Le Perroquet, which closed in 1991 after a near-20-year run; Le Francais, which called it quits in 2007 after more than 30 years; L'Escargot, shuttered in 1993 after 13 years, and Le Titi de Paris, which remains open today. (Maxim's, where Jean Joho of Everest got his start, bucked the name trend, but also succumbed.)

"Back then, when you went out to dine, you went out to dine," said Mr. Hogan, now executive chef and partner of Keefer's in River North.

Yoshi Katsumura, 61, said diners revolted when he and his wife, Nobuko, opened Yoshi's Cafe in 1982 in Lakeview with paper tablecloths.

"People complained," Mr. Katsumura said. "In those times, it was too early for a brasserie or a bistro. (Diners) wanted to dress up."

Today, there is a more laid-back approach to dining and therefore less of a range in restaurants, said Jonathan Fox, 47, who started cooking in Chicago in the late 1980s and now owns La Madia in River North.

"It's either fine dining or casual," Mr. Fox said.

The secret to staying in the game for so long is to have both passion for the craft and the ability to adapt to industry changes.

For Mr. Katsumura, that meant reinventing Yoshi's Cafe during the economic recession of the early 1990s. In Yoshi Cafe's early days, "people used to spend money like water," he said. "People would come for lunch and stay through dinner." Eventually, the 48-seat dining room got harder to fill. So the Katsumuras overhauled the restaurant, replacing walls with windows, adding more seats and adopting a more casual atmosphere. Still, running a restaurant is a challenge.

"It's hard to keep doing this for 25 years," Mr. Katsumura said. "It's much harder now. There are lots of young chefs."

And there are a lot more opinions about dining and food thanks to the Internet and TV. The Food Network and reality cooking shows such as "Top Chef" have made celebrities of many who in the past never left the kitchen. With international ratings guides also weighing in, news about the dining world is at every consumer's fingertips.

"The big difference today is that I think you compete with every country in the world," said Jean Joho, 60, who opened Everest at the top floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange building. "The consumer knows so much more about food than 30 years ago."

"For me, instead of reinventing the wheel, I take the old, rusty wheel out of the shed and polish it nice," Mr. Hogan said. "I'm known for simple food done well. It's all about making a few ingredients sing."